Spinach Recalled in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia for Possible Listeria

Lancaster Foods LLC, of Jessup, Maryland just recalled 10-ounce packages of its Krisp-Pak Ready to Eat Hydro-Cooled Fresh Spinach after the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed the dangerous, sometimes deadly Listeria monocytogenes pathogen in product samples, wrote WRAL.

WRAL said that the packages bear the verbiage: â€œBest Enjoyed By: 23 Jun 10, Product of USA, 10/158/09:17/1/05.â€ The recall includes products sold in North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia said WRAL, which noted that state inspectors collected the recalled spinach product from a Farm Fresh store located in Elizabeth City. To date, no illnesses have been reported in connection to the recalled spinach.

â€œConsumers who have this product should throw the contents of the bag away and contact the Lancaster Foodsâ€™ toll-free consumer line for additional information,â€ said Dan Ragan, director of the Agriculture Department’s Food and Drug Protection Division, in a statement, quoted WRAL. â€œListeria is particularly dangerous to persons with weakened immune systems and pregnant women,â€ Ragan added.

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause Listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease. While healthy people rarely contract Listeriosis, the infection can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, and nausea; can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women; and can result in serious and sometimes fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as infants, the elderly, persons with HIV infection, or those undergoing chemotherapy.

Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. In pregnant women, Listeriosis can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth of a baby suffering from the infection.

Pregnant women are about 20 times likelier than others to be infected and Listeriosis can kill fetuses, prompt premature births, and can lead to hearing loss or brain damage in newborns and neurological effects and cardio respiratory failure in adults.